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July 23, 2009
GatesGate
Obama's really stepped in it this time. By calling police "stupid" in the Henry Louis Gates arrest without knowing what actually happened, he put himself firmly on what turns out to be the wrong side of the issue. The cop was not only right to investigate (there had been several break-ins in the area, including one of Gates' home) and to arrest Gates based on his behavior, he actually teaches a course on avoiding racial profiling, making him about the farthest thing possible from a racist. Attempting damage control today among mounting criticism... Obama "was dead wrong to malign this police officer specifically and the department in general," Alan McDonald, the lawyer for the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, told ABC News today. ... Barack "Words Matter" Obama tried to explain what he really meant is the police are great and can't we all just get along? "I think that I have extraordinary respect for the difficulties of the job that police officers do," the president told Moran. "And my suspicion is that words were exchanged between the police officer and Mr. Gates and that everybody should have just settled down and cooler heads should have prevailed. That's my suspicion." Not so. Gates was creating a public disturbance, and by the meaning of "disorderly conduct," he clearly should have been arrested. A typical statutory definition of disorderly conduct, in this case Indiana's, defines the offense in this way: If you scream at someone, cop or not, on your front porch in a suburban neighborhood, you are disturbing the peace, because it's an unreasonable noise. You will be warned, and then arrested if you are too stupid to stop when the police tell you to. People living in the neighborhood have a right not to be disturbed by screaming lunatics. posted by Dave on 07.23.09 at 07:55 PM
Comments
Obama: "..everybody should have just settled down, and cooler heads should have prevailed..." Gibbs: "..at that point, cooler heads likely should have prevailed on both sides." Nonsense. Obama did not indicate at any point that he thought Gates had acted stupidly. In fact, when asked about that very point, this is what Gibbs had to say: Q - And when you say that cooler heads should have prevailed on all sides, you're saying Professor Gates should have also handled it differently? GIBBS - Well, look, again, I wasn't there, the President wasn't there. I think at some point, again, you have a situation that is not as it -- as not as it was called in. I think when somebody -- I think being arrested in your own home for being in your home -- I think the fact that those charges have been dropped denote that there clearly was a point at which this got far out of -- far out of control." I'll take that as a No. Susan · July 24, 2009 11:04 AM I don't want to silence anyone, just keep their voices at a level where I can take a nap. Talldave · July 24, 2009 12:00 PM "I think that I have extraordinary respect for..." He thinks he has respect for...? He's not sure? Perhaps if the Cambridge police were more like the Iranian police he'd know he respected the difficulties of their job. But in this instance it isn't respect that is needed it is empathy. JKB · July 28, 2009 02:18 PM Post a comment
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"People living in the neighborhood have a right not to be disturbed by screaming lunatics."
Dave, you and Simon need to talk. (Two posts down.)